Utica Peregrine Falcon Update for June 8, 2018 –
Astrid was in the vicinity of the nest for most of the overnight period. Sometimes she was out on the long perch and other times she was east of the nest box on a window ledge. Ares came to the nest at 2:15 AM. He had something small in his talons. Astrid took it but then unceremoniously dropped it when she discovered it was merely a tuft of feathers and not a hunk of meat. Ares came in and did a chick-check at 5:14 and then Astrid did one directly afterwards. She came back a minute later with something small and it was immediately stolen by a chick – we think Angel. At 6:18, Ares brought leftovers from an earlier Pigeon meal to the box. Astrid had to chase him across the cross-perch to get it from him and then she did the feeding. The three nestlings were fairly well behaved during the course of the meal. Wonders never cease!
Astrid did a couple of chick-checks between 8:00 and 8:30. She had gotten upset after seeing office lights go on and people moving around in windows. At 8:46, Milo tried to grab a food scrap with his talons and ended up grasping Petra’s foot instead! Deb noticed that there were at least five birds stored in Ares’ pantry on the upper west face of the State Building. All prey items were stored tail-out, which is his typical technique. After not seeing the parents for a little while, they were observed together on the ledge at Hotel Utica at 10:50. Forty-five minutes later they were both on the verandas on either sides of the nest box. The chicks in the box were squealing like mad. At 11:53, Astrid made a quick stop at the nest box and then went immediately to the steeple and displaced Ares from his perch. Go out and fetch some grub for those chicks! He did seem to go off hunting after that.
At 12:19, Astrid did a chick-check. The begging calls of the nestlings were getting more and more shrill at that time. She had to bring them something and so Astrid flew over to Ares’ pantry on the State Building and withdrew a cuckoo. Desperate circumstances lead to desperate measures. She brought it back to the box where it was instantly stolen by Angel. Milo began screeching in Astrid’s face and she took that as her cue to leave. While Angel was feeding on his ill-gotten cuckoo in the corner and Milo was screaming bloody murder, Petra was half snoozing in his own corner. Milo stormed over and tread on Petra. Petra responded by muscling in on Angel’s meal. After a few minutes it was only Petra feeding. At one point he was trying to swallow an entire cuckoo wing. It’s not even remotely possible, and he soon gave up, but continued prying bits of meat from the carcass. At 1:10, Astrid came to the box with most of a Pigeon. She fed mostly one chick for at least ten minutes and the she flew off with the leftovers and stored them on the State Building. Two of the nestlings picked at the cuckoo carcass for a while after Astrid left.
Later in the afternoon, Astrid got irritated by people moving in offices not far from the nest box. She came in and out of the box a few times, did some darting around and some hazing of the windows. She settled down pretty quickly after that. By 6:15, Astrid had been perched on the steeple for some time. The chicks were getting restless. We were wondering if Ares was going to return with some supper. At 6:30, Ares showed up on the hotel. He was plucking what appeared to be a Pigeon. He also seemed to be eating a share of it. At 6:46, he finally brought it to the box. Astrid took it from there and began feeding the raucous crowd. One of the chicks – we think Angel, initially grabbed the meal away from Astrid, but she quickly snatched it back. Milo was trying to help himself while Astrid concentrated on feeding Petra. At one point Angel and Petra had either end of the same string of meat. They ate until their beaks touched. The parents were on the State Building until about 8:30, and then Astrid moved to the steeple. At 9 PM, It was fireworks that annoyed her and after that, a light left on in an office put her in a foul mood. She eventually settled down and by 10:00, she was on the east veranda. Ares never budged from his perch on the State Building.